NOVEMBER I DECEMBER 2017 GRAND 171170 GRAND NOVEMBER I DECEMBER 2017

2017 Audi R8 Spyder a fusion of power and aggression

W H E E L S

Kathy

Renwald

2017 Audi R8 SpyderBase Price: $198,100Price as Tested: $236,635Engine Type: 5.2-litre V10Power: 610 hpTorque: 413 lb.-ft.Fuel Consumption: 17 L/100 km (city); 8.7 L/100 km (highway)What’s Best: Sound, speed, handling, naturally aspirated engineWhat’s Worst: Limited seat adjustments What’s Interesting: The cabin and insulated soft-top are designed to allow for normal-volume conversations at 250 km/h. mitekautobody.com 519-578-2052 • 207 Centennial Court, Kitchener

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Do you want to feel like Santa Claus

everyday? Buy an Audi R8 Spyder. It

will cost you $238,000, but you will

be sprinkling stardust everywhere

you go.

Audi’s super sports car looks like nothing

else on the road and sounds like it was

tuned by engineers on mind-altering drugs.

What else can explain my experience

when I went to visit friends at their cottage

on Lake Erie.

Arrival was the calm before the storm. We

arrived without fanfare in the middle of the

afternoon. Most people were at the beach.

We had put the R8 on tame mode, which

put a mute on the exhaust.

Departure was the storm. I started up the

Spyder and sparks started to fly. There’s a

button on the centre console that looks like

the bulging eyes of a praying mantis. Push

it, floor it and the restraint comes off the

exhaust. All the best things about a race

car – the whine, the growl, the metal-eating

ratcheting sound you can’t explain – it all

combines in a fusion soup of power and

aggression.

Suddenly people started shuffling out

of their cottages, screen doors banged,

kids dropped their bikes on the sidewalk.

Within five minutes we were surrounded

by people so entranced it evoked a zombie

apocalypse.

Adults were smitten, but kids were crazy

in love with the R8.

“Can Nathan sit behind the wheel?”

“Will you let Elora get in the passenger

seat?”

And so it went during my week test-driv-

ing the Spyder, one billionaire experience

after another.

For a car that can put onlookers into a

stupefied trance, the Audi R8 is remark-

ably civilized to drive. Sure, it can do zero

to 100 km/h in a ridiculous 3.3 seconds,

thanks to that grand V10 engine and 610

horsepower, but by selecting comfort drive

mode it can poke around town over impov-

erished roads and not bruise your body.

It’s soothing to know that comfort mode is

available, but driving in sport or sport-plus

mode is the hip place to be. It is heaven to

unleash the V10 and let the seven-speed

dual clutch automatic transmission whip

through gear changes.

For a few seconds you can feel the high of

driving a race car. With the grip of all-wheel

drive, the surgical steering and rigid body,

the R8 handles flawlessly. It makes you feel

like a skilled driver, when in reality you

have barely asked the car to use one-tenth

of its capabilities.

The cabin reeks of money and good taste

with its deep-dish seats, and dash moulded

like a fine musical instrument. But get this,

the driver’s seat can only be adjusted fore

and aft. No raising or reclining. That’s a

quirk of the $7,000 Le Mans Package.

This bit of obnoxious behaviour is offset

by the glorious virtual instrument panel

right in front of your eyes. Every bit of info

needed is right there in your line of sight,

and it’s all customizable. This wizardry

removes the placement of a clumsy display

screen in the middle of the dash, and nixes

the need for a flurry of buttons and dials.

Audi’s interior design is legendary – save a

spot in the Smithsonian for this one.

From curbside the view of the Audi R8 is

not museum quality. It’s become blockier,

beefier and maybe a bit bloated over the

years. It’s still a head turner, but I’d like

to see someone take a sculpting knife to it

and carve a curve or a niche, something to

interrupt its boxy shape.

The Spyder looks best with the top down,

which only takes 20 seconds to accomplish

in a mesmerizing feat of engineering.

The last day we had the R8, a neighbour

asked if his son, who has autism, could

sit in it. The boy has never talked to us,

but his face said everything when he sat in

the passenger seat. I started the car and he

squealed with joy. Later, his mother told

us he would look out the window every

evening and say, “Good night car.”

Another Santa Claus moment.

Kathy Renwald is an award-winning

automotive writer, photographer and

videographer.

www. je f f -d i l lon .com519.574.6633jeffdi l lon1@mac.com

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